Union Aircraft Company

Union Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer specializing in race aircraft.[1]

Union Aircraft Company
TypeAircraft Manufacturer
Founded1937
HeadquartersSanta Monica, California, Glendale, California
Key people
Keith Rider, CS Story, WK Gawley
ParentStory-Gawley Propeller Company

California based aircraft designer Keith Rider had developed aircraft since 1916, and specialty aircraft for the National Air Races in the early 1930s.[2] Starting his career as a draftsman for the Glen L. Martin Company. His five early racing designs built in a casket factory were state of the art monoplanes of the era. Despite large payoffs in the height of the depression, Rider fell into debt with the Story-Gawley Propeller company. He founded the Union Aircraft Company as a subsidiary of Story-Gawley to produce an aircraft that would provide enough winnings to pay off the debts, and seek future profits.[3] The company produced the Rider R-6 "Eight-Ball".

The profits did not come about, leading to the end of aircraft production. In 1941 the parent company Story-Gawley was absorbed by Industrial Forming.[4] Rider went on to become Vice President of Doak Aircraft, and project engineer for the Timm Aircraft Company.[5]

Aircraft
Summary of aircraft built by Union Aircraft Company
Model name First flight Number built Type
Rider R-6 1938 1 Racing aircraft

References
  1. "EIGHT PLANES SET FOR THOMPSON RACE". New York Times. 2 September 1938.
  2. John Underwood. Grand Central Air Terminal. p. 74.
  3. Mike Kusenda (Spring 1981). "The Keith Rider R-6 - Behind the Eightball". Journal of the American Aviation Historical Society.
  4. American Aviation vol 5: 49. 1941. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Illinois. Who's who in aviation. p. 357.

Bibliography
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.